Just Read

I almost didn’t order this book because I thought it might be too morbid and serious for my currently frothy mood. But I’m so glad I did.

Every Indian should read this book. Because the author is not just a Kashmiri but one who grew up in a village and thus had a very grassroots experience of the conflict, it reads as a very true account of what life in Kashmir has been like for the past decade. Peer is very entrenched in Kashmir – it remains home for him – and yet able to distance himself from it, having gone to Delhi to study and work as a journalist so there is room for reflection even if the events are clearly very close to his heart.

I am aware that there are many truths in Kashmir. There is the truth of the Indian state and the army. There is the truth of the militant who chooses to defy the state. (Peer makes a distinction between Kashimiri miltants and Pakistani militants). And there is the truth of the ordinary Kashmiri and I think it’s the latter perspective that Peer represents, a perspective that I’ve always wondered about. Again, I’m aware that there would be variations even within the category of ‘ordinary Kashmiri’ but I think a good cross-section of experiences is represented in the book.

I also think that we, as Indians, need to take responsibility for such horrors as young Kashmiri boys being forced by the army to approach houses in which militants are holed in with grenades in their hands, ending in being blown up themselves while their mothers look on, or hospitals full of young men who have had electric shocks delivered to their penises. We have to take responsibility for generations of Kashmiris being forced to flash identity cards as a reflex or to get off public transport and walk a mile with their hands in the air before alighting again. We have to take responsibility because we are mostly silent, we consume news of crackdowns and encounters and even maps that lie without being moved.

I think all of us need to read this book and acknowledge to ourselves that this is what we are sanctioning with our silence.

Kashmir a lesson in what happens when one chooses to defy the state. It reminds me why India is so very much like China, the Other we are so fond of congratulating ourselves that we are not. It is fine to live in India if you don’t question the foundations of the state. If you do, you’re not so safe.

One of the questions Peer asks is what would have happened had the Indian state chosen to let the Kashmiris peacefully protest instead of cracking down on these demonstrations. The critical event, in his mind, that hardened what had earlier been more of a sense of distance and distaste towards the Indian state into hatred was the massacre of peaceful protester at Gowkadal Bridge in 1990. Such a simple solution – let people express their displeasure, talk to them, don’t shoot them dead.

Yeah, I think for a lot of people it is false national pride. But the border issue is a practical concern. Like I was discussing this with my mom – who is a very typical Indian housewife, not highly educated or anything – and she said quite bluntly, “we can’t let it go because the border would be too open.”

Agree that most Indians don’t think of the North East as India – not sure if any Indian Prime Minister has ever visited the region, which is shocking – but I think Indians most definitely think of Kashmir as India. And for Kashmiris at least what other Indians think of them is not really a big concern I’d imagine because they are dealing with much more pressing issues. Agree again that they are not taught to be “real Indians” but not for want of trying… I think the events of the 1990s and the reality of their lives made it impossible for many Kashmiris to even want to be “real Indians”.

I was in Srinagar for a week last year, and my wonderful host was a Kashmiri whose father was killed during a militant attack. He is in a fairly high profile position in the state government now, and talks quite publicly about his support for the Indian government (and that has earned him a few enemies). And while it was fascinating to look at his side of the story, he urged me to read this book too, since it brings home how the Kashmiris are a people who have lost loved ones and had lives ruined either by the militants or by the state.

Yes, Peer touches upon the risk those who support the government or even local elections face. His own father being a civil servant was targeted. You should definitely read the book… and I want to go there too!